Home Health & Hospice Week

Plus: Don't forget CAHPS form is due this month.

No news may be good news when it comes to the Home Health Quality Reporting Program, but home health agencies still have plenty to keep track of on the quality front.

Recap: In the 2024 home health final rule issued last November, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized the new Functional Discharge Score (DC Function) quality measure starting in 2025.

When the new DC Function measure comes in, the current Application of Percent of Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH) Patients with an Admission and Discharge Functional Assessment and a Care Plan That Addresses Function (Application of Functional Assessment/Care Plan) measure will go out, noted CMS’ Jermama Keys in the agency’s Feb. 22 Home Health Open Door Forum.

HHS will have to hit the ground running on the DC Function measure. “The Discharge (DC) function score and the Transfer of Health Information measures are scheduled to be on Care Compare with the January 2025 refresh,” points out the National Association for Home Care & Hospice.

Other home health topics addressed in the forum include:

• CAHPS. Don’t miss the due date for an important CAHPS form. Medicare-certified home health agencies seeking an exemption from participating in the CAHPS survey for the calendar year 2025 annual payment update (APU) period must submit a Participation Exemption Request (PER) form on the HHCAHPS website, CMS noted in the forum. The deadline for that form is March 31.

The CY 2026 data collection period begins in April, CMS emphasizes on its CAHPS website. “The HHA Responsi­bilities document will be updated [in] early April 2024 to reference the CY 2026 APU participation period,” it adds.

• Value-Based Purchasing. Make sure your VBP inquiries are going to the right place. As of Dec. 18, 2023, the new address to use is HHVBPquestions@cms.hhs.gov, CMS reiterated in the forum.